Tutorial

March 18, 2010

I kind of forgot how soon Artfest was . So part two will have to wait till I'm home . I have been making trades and getting ready like crazy. This year I decided to make singed fabric flower hair clips and brooches as trades . Here's what i've finished so far.

How were these made ? they're super easy !

What you need :

Sheer melt-able fabric things like organza,crepe,polyester . Mine are made from organza and organdy

Pare template of circles in various sizes

and candle

needle and thread

beads ans sequins .

Cut the fabric and then carefully burn the edges with a candle . Be quick or the circle will catch on fire! Melting the edges will cause the piece to no longer fray and it'll curl up !

Stack your singed fabric in any way you like . i went from largest to smallest

I then tacked the ting together with a stitch or two and the embellished with sequins and beads but you always sew on a button or glue a rhinestone .

I then backed each flower with felt and attached a bobby pin . TADA pretty spring flower accessory .

March 16, 2010

Ok so you want to try making recycled tin jewelry right ? Where to start ? taking the tins apart of course !

Here's what you'll need

Tins ! I get mine at thrift stores from friends and flea markets . Some times ou can even get gorgeous imagery from spice tins !

heavy duty tin snips . The ones that are straight ! the curved ones are for cutting curves and thats not what we want .

detail tin snips . I'm pretty sure these are just rose shears but you can find them Here .

a hammer for beating the tin flat

and not pictured a box . You will want a safe secure place to put all those clippings . these things are razor sharp !

So why is the can opener in the picture ? to remind me to mention that while you can use it to open round tins it will not work for oval or square and it will leave a strange scratch all along the bottom. yuck !

Big Giant Note of caution !!!!! I don't use gloves . As these bits are razor sharp ,it'll cut through them. Be aware of where your hands are in relation to sharp bits !

That bit said lets get started .

The first thing we're going to take apart is the lid . Pull it off ,sometimes there hinge ,I find bending it back and forth will cause this to snap off . take your heavy duty shears and cut a wedge in the lip of the lid like so.

put the wedge in your sharp bits box and then go around the entire lid with your snips. Your cutting away the lip of the piece . Periodically cut off the sharp bit and throw it away.

this is what your left with

We could stop here but let's take apart the rest of the tin.

This parts a little harder to explain. Flip your tin over and holding the snips at a slight angle begin to cut off the ridge . This does require hand strength. Just like the lid your going to cut the lip off all the way around the tin.

As the part your cutting away get longer snip it off and toss it in the box. Nothing hurts like having that piece cut the back of your hand .

So after cutting off lip this is what your left with

Now look for the seam . on tins with corners that usually where it is . We're going to cut just along one side of the seam to open up the tin .

Once thats done this is what your left with . but we're not done yet . With your hands carefully straighten the piece out .Now your going to want to cut off the seam

Take your detail shears and cut off the inner rim . If you cut continuously and not let the blade fully close you'll be left with a much neater edge .

Your going to do the same to the other side . this neatens the piece of metal up and cuts off any stray burs that could cut you later .

January 26, 2009

I've been promising it for ages so here it is . This is what we'll be making This simple little pendant can then be used as the base for a necklace,glue a pin back to it and you have a lovely brooch.. make it from a really small cameo finding and you have a ball joint doll necklace !

here's what you needResin - I use cast n craft but if you don't want to buy alot of resin and just want to make a few pieces you can run to the hard ware store and pick up adhesive resin in that syringe thingie. Get the 30 minute !glue {elmers} I couldn't find my glue so for this I'm using acrylic medium pearl pigment powders or mineral eyeshadow,shaved chalk ...disposable cupsstir sticktoothpickcameo findings you can find these at some the links I poster earlier they look like this gearspaintbrushpliers

Step one . gears usually have these sharp little pokey bits . these are rather painfull so we need to remove them .
Simply take you'r pliers and pull em off. Sometimes this can break the gear but for the most part they'll just fall off leaving your gears looking like this .

Take your glue and squirt a small amount into a plastic cup. Add a little pigment powder and mix well.Use your paintbrush and paint the inside of the cameo piece. add gears and let fully dry.

Once the piece is completely dry you'll mix your resin following the instructions on the box . I don't have pics of this part but I will do my best to explain it.

Once your resin is fully mixed use the toothpick to carefully fill the recessed part of the cameo finding Watch it carefully for bubbles should any farm just pop them with a toothpick . Once it's all cured your good to go !

March 10, 2008

Ingredients :
Staedtler MasterCarve Artist Carving Block - I love this stuff ! It is by far the best rubber I've used ! Carves like a dream and take ink and paint wonderfully
Linoleum cutters
copyright free image book
Photocopied image It has to be laser copy , inkjet will just smear and be icky
matt gel medium
exacto knife

First- cut your image out. Coat the image with a generous amount of matt medium . I use my finger.. And lay the image matt medium down on to the rubber. With a non goopy finger smooth out any air bubbles. Try to not get any of the matt medium on the back of the image as this will make it harder to remove the paper.
Let this dry for about an hour.

Once it's dry stick the rubber under running water till you can see the image thru the paper .

Using your finger gently rub the paper off the rubber. Don't worry if a little of the image comes off. You can go over it with a marker to fill in those areas .

Then I use my exacto knife to carefully cut excess rubber off. And I use my linoleum carvers to carefully carve away the outline of the image. Watch where you put you other hand !!!! trust me those things are sharp and can really hurt ! I always try to carve on something as those little shavings get every where !
The harder you push down the deeper and wider the line will be. I use the smallest size when I carve out the inside . It's easier if you take short strokes as you're less likely to accidentally carve something you didn't mean to.
Once you're finished carving it out you can use the exacto knife to cut away any excess around the edges that you may still have.
Then ink it up and stanp it ! If you see anything you don't like simply carve it out !

Now what can you do with your new stamp ? Any thing you want ! The best thing is that since these are carved deeper then store bought stamps you can use paint instead of ink. Just make sure to wash it off !

August 15, 2007

What you'll need
-wax paper , this stuff will be your best friend when working with resin !
-resin
-cheapo paint brush, you know the kind .. they're plastic and you can get em at the dollar stor
-stir stick
2} lay out the wax paper , this will protect your work surface and it will make removing the piece a ton easier if the resin spills.

3} Mix the resin as per instructions

4} I now use the cheapo paint brush to dab on the resin . Resin has a great surface tension and will dome all on it's own.

5} if for some reason the resin spills over the edge don't worry just use your stir stick to push it out of the puddle

6} now let your pieces cure for at least a day once cure simply drill a hole add a jumpring and tada a realy cool charm !